View full sizeTHOMAS BOYD/THE OREGONIANPatrons of the Oasis Soup Kitchen in Prineville eat lunch Wednesday. Soup kitchens served 3.9 million meals during the past year, in addition to a record number of emergency food boxes distributed across Oregon and southwest Washington.

But Bristol said people without jobs aren’t the only ones needing emergency food supplies.

"Low wages and limited benefits forced even people with jobs to seek emergency food," Bristol said. "Poverty has increased significantly. More than a half-million Oregonians now live below the poverty rate."

In an average month, about 260,000 people in Oregon and Clark County, Wash., ate meals from emergency food boxes. Of those, almost 86,000 were children. In addition, soup kitchens served 3.9 million meals during the past year.

Record levels of U.S. Department of Agriculture commodities and donations from individuals, groups and businesses have met the need.

"This year, we face a very different story," Bristol said, however. "Stimulus funding has ended. And we anticipate a 30 percent decline in USDA commodities."